Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Dearth of a Salesman

Posted on November 12, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Just to prove I can unload invective as well as sweet reason, as long as my targets are anonymous idiots, I had a fun time today going to pick up a leaf blower (having discovered that our relatively large new … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 10 Comments

Collective Expertise and Source Authority

Posted on November 11, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Via BoingBoing, this discussion of a mysterious technological object purchased by Todd Lappin. I went to a meeting on teaching technological literacy, especially information technology literacy, in liberal arts curricula last weekend, and I’ll probably write more about that meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging | 9 Comments

People Behaving Badly

Posted on November 10, 2005 by Timothy Burke

I have never liked the over self-referentiality of blogs in general, but there are times where it is right to talk about what’s at stake in this form of publication (e.g., Ivan Tribble) or about struggles about the nature and … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging | 25 Comments

Knowing

Posted on November 3, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Juan Cole spoke here last night, courtesy of War News Radio, and I was fortunate enough to have dinner with him as well. I thought his talk was terrifically clear, informative and useful, basically a great demonstration of what a … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging | 5 Comments

The Union Label

Posted on November 2, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Even back when my political sensibilities were more party-line progressive than they are now, I was always uneasy about the expectation that any given action by a labor union mandatorily demanded unquestioning support. Partly that’s the consequence of growing up … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 14 Comments

I’m Doomed

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Civilization IV is out. I thought Civilization III was a very poor addition to the series, with a lot of half-baked ideas, bad balancing and inexcusable bugs, as well as an AI that cut corners and depended a lot on … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming | 5 Comments

Miered in Standards

Posted on October 27, 2005 by Timothy Burke

So Harriet Miers withdraws. Not a surprise. I never weighed in on the nomination in the first place, and that’s because I had (perhaps characteristically) ambivalent feelings about it. On one hand, I thought some of those who were hesitant … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment

Amazing New Promotional Strategy

Posted on October 25, 2005 by Timothy Burke

For the recent BBC revival of Dr. Who, Amazon lists (as of 3:45 pm today) the following for the DVD of the 2005 season: “Doctor Who (2005 TV Series) DVD ~ Joe Ahearne Availability: This title will be released on … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Mawwage

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Timothy Burke

I despair, I really do, whenever I read someone like Maggie Gallagher over at the Volokh Conspiracy combine what appears to be a functioning intellect with sheer empirical bullheadness when it comes to characterizing the history of marriage and using … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments

Department of Bad Ideas

Posted on October 21, 2005 by Timothy Burke

Maybe in any event the United States would have ended up isolated at UNESCO’s latest attempt to put global popular culture under the thumb of state sovereignities, but the Bush Administration’s earlier contempt for all multilateral processes hasn’t made it … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | Comments Off on Department of Bad Ideas